“Do not look at the faults of others, but at your own deeds, what you have done and what you have left undone.”Dhammapada · Dhammapada · -300 · 50
Others' mistakes cost nothing and change nothing; only looking at your own actions corrects anything real.
Watching other people's mistakes is comfortable: it costs nothing and demands nothing. Yet it produces only indignation, not change. Turning your gaze toward your own deeds, done or left undone, has the power to correct something real. In Buddhist terms, each person carries only their own burden, not anyone else's. Someone who fumes daily about a lazy colleague wastes that energy, while one who admits his own procrastination can act differently tomorrow.
There is a simple test for where your attention goes. At the end of a day, try to recall what you did, not what others did. Usually the colleague's faults come instantly, while your own hesitate. That shows the imbalance: the eye trained outward grows sharp, the inward one stays untrained. The Dhammapada suggests reversing this training, not as moralizing, but as an economy of energy. Indignation costs much and produces nothing; one correction to your own act produces something real. For instance, instead of replaying all evening how unfair a comment was, note one thing of yours you could repair tomorrow. The next step is understanding why the mind flees so quickly toward others' faults.
Why it matters It helps in family or workplace conflicts, where criticizing others is the automatic reflex and self-examination would accomplish more.